Okay the title is a bit dramatic i know. Haha.
I've been writing for a while now, and I never really thought I could last this long. It was a good challenge, and I hope I can keep it up.
Since I will going away in a few days time, I wanted to write something totally pointless for once, straying away from the usual serious tempo of my posts..
Oh yes, my posts are always serious. I write them, re-read them and I realize. I am a serious person haha. (Ye ke??). Well, some people tell me so. They say I am pretty serious when putting down what I think, or how I view things.
And I had never realized it til now. I take it as a compliment though. Feels good to get to know myself bit by bit. I am a mystery, even to myself sometimes.
And I will keep being so. After all, my name is Mr Secreteer, and that's just what I do.
A reason of not putting forth who I am : I want my writing to do the talking, and not the person behind it. Coz it doesn't matter who I am, if I have a point, then whoever I am wouldn't change that.
Same like you. If you've got a point, even if you're just an indifferent observer, you've still got a point.
So far, I had been secreteering from home, since I started this. I had seen stuff that happens around here, and therefore I share it, because I think it's meant to be shared.
In a few days time, I will be secreteering at a new place, in a new time zone, and in a new environment with a lot of new people. And by doing this, I hope it will keep the longevity of 'Mr Secreteer' the blog. Mr Secreteer, the virtual character.
So where do I stand? Definitely still standing and will be for quite a while. As long as there are things to see and things to say, people to observe and reminders to be made, Mr Secreteer will keep standing tall.
okay2. Tempo's getting serious. Going off now. See ya in the new timezone. Ciao....
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Taking life seriously.
Don't you hate it when you have to take life seriously? We feel the stresses, we feel the pain. Our head feels heavy, our eyes feel drowsy, we feel tired, bla2.
But we can't help but take it seriously right? Because life is serious..
Hmmmm...don't know about that. Let's see...
I've met a lot of people in life. And when classifying them by their seriousness, there is no right and wrong answer. There are a lot of serious people, who made it in life, and there are a lot of unserious people, who also do.
So everyone has equal chance in making it in life, but the outcomes are going to be different.
The serious people who I meet, and I mean serious all the time, takes life hard. Everything is a problem, everything is hard, and everything needs to be solved. They think about a lot of things at one time, and they find solutions. they are tired, all the time. They can be cranky, and in the end they always stay that way because they forget how to not be serious.
And the un-serious is always the opposite. They take life easy. The do as they go along. They think one thing at a time. Not everything is a problem, and not everything has a solution. They are slower, later bloomers, and not as driven as their serious counterparts. They tend to be a bit more easygoing, and not worry too much all the time.
So, the verdict?
I don't know. Honestly, deciding to be serious or not depends on tuan punya badan. If being serious feels good, then go ahead. Similarly with the opposite.
But I do know one thing, we can be both serious and not at the same time. Well, different times I mean. But we can be both.
Because I think between being serious and un-serious, they is a kind of grey area that most people tend to not explore.
Like, per say, we can be serious when doing work, and un-serious when playing futsal with friends. Or we can do the opposite, if it feels good.
The most important thing, is that we have to not forget how to be serious, or un-serious. Because if we do, life will be too one-dimensional, and it will feel stiff and tiring.
And I do have one principle. We can't fight fire with fire, coz fire gets bigger. So serious lawan serious jadi makin serious. So to counter the seriosity in life, we turn it down a notch and become a bit un-serious, to lighten things up. Besides, jalan tengah is always the best right...he he
But we can't help but take it seriously right? Because life is serious..
Hmmmm...don't know about that. Let's see...
I've met a lot of people in life. And when classifying them by their seriousness, there is no right and wrong answer. There are a lot of serious people, who made it in life, and there are a lot of unserious people, who also do.
So everyone has equal chance in making it in life, but the outcomes are going to be different.
The serious people who I meet, and I mean serious all the time, takes life hard. Everything is a problem, everything is hard, and everything needs to be solved. They think about a lot of things at one time, and they find solutions. they are tired, all the time. They can be cranky, and in the end they always stay that way because they forget how to not be serious.
And the un-serious is always the opposite. They take life easy. The do as they go along. They think one thing at a time. Not everything is a problem, and not everything has a solution. They are slower, later bloomers, and not as driven as their serious counterparts. They tend to be a bit more easygoing, and not worry too much all the time.
So, the verdict?
I don't know. Honestly, deciding to be serious or not depends on tuan punya badan. If being serious feels good, then go ahead. Similarly with the opposite.
But I do know one thing, we can be both serious and not at the same time. Well, different times I mean. But we can be both.
Because I think between being serious and un-serious, they is a kind of grey area that most people tend to not explore.
Like, per say, we can be serious when doing work, and un-serious when playing futsal with friends. Or we can do the opposite, if it feels good.
The most important thing, is that we have to not forget how to be serious, or un-serious. Because if we do, life will be too one-dimensional, and it will feel stiff and tiring.
And I do have one principle. We can't fight fire with fire, coz fire gets bigger. So serious lawan serious jadi makin serious. So to counter the seriosity in life, we turn it down a notch and become a bit un-serious, to lighten things up. Besides, jalan tengah is always the best right...he he
Maturing and Re-maturing (part 2)
I think a few days back I had some kind of a revelation when talking to my dad.
I told him : I think after 35, people's personality becomes their habit. They probably had worked the same job for at least 10 years. So what the job does to them, it shapes their personality. And as they go through it every day, it becomes a habit.
Right?
Well, maybe a bit too mechanical, but I think a lot of cases happen that way. And this from talking through experience as well.
Once I talked to an investment banker. He is someone who looks forward, all the time, always thinking about future investment plans, and never really thinks about the present. Then a few weeks later I talked to another banker. I swear, they both have the same personality.
Engineers are the same too. Surprisingly, however serious an engineer's job is, the engineer is always the easygoing type, and always easy to get along with.
And what about teachers. High school teachers. They are always thinking that we are still 13 years old, like we are their kids. Maybe because that's how they feel like when they teach?
Point is, this thing happens..
What thing?
This thing where we are stuck and we stay stagnant and we don't progress in life.We are endangered of getting used to something and refusing to change our view and personality, because we are so used to doing the thing we do.
And in this game we call life, the game is getting harder, all the time.
So taking a leaf from the previous few posts, when life keeps progressing but we don't, game over. We lose. We stay stagnant, and we don't progress..
We can't go to the next level.
So what do we do?
Live, learn and progress. No cheat codes here...
I told him : I think after 35, people's personality becomes their habit. They probably had worked the same job for at least 10 years. So what the job does to them, it shapes their personality. And as they go through it every day, it becomes a habit.
Right?
Well, maybe a bit too mechanical, but I think a lot of cases happen that way. And this from talking through experience as well.
Once I talked to an investment banker. He is someone who looks forward, all the time, always thinking about future investment plans, and never really thinks about the present. Then a few weeks later I talked to another banker. I swear, they both have the same personality.
Engineers are the same too. Surprisingly, however serious an engineer's job is, the engineer is always the easygoing type, and always easy to get along with.
And what about teachers. High school teachers. They are always thinking that we are still 13 years old, like we are their kids. Maybe because that's how they feel like when they teach?
Point is, this thing happens..
What thing?
This thing where we are stuck and we stay stagnant and we don't progress in life.We are endangered of getting used to something and refusing to change our view and personality, because we are so used to doing the thing we do.
And in this game we call life, the game is getting harder, all the time.
So taking a leaf from the previous few posts, when life keeps progressing but we don't, game over. We lose. We stay stagnant, and we don't progress..
We can't go to the next level.
So what do we do?
Live, learn and progress. No cheat codes here...
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Maturing..and rematuring..
Bottom line, as we get older, we mature, through experience, accidents and knowledge. It's a known fact. A 12 year old kid is probably more mature than a 6 year old. The same as holds true as we compare older people to younger.
However, say for example between the youth and the old, what happens in between?
We go through stages...Different stages of life.
Stages? You mean like a game? Menang satu stage, pergi stage lain?
Well, you can look at it that way. In a game, a new stage starts out easy. Kill small monsters, use simple guns, and as it goes further into a stage, you start to kill big monsters and use laser guns instead of knives. You win a stage, you get into another, harder stage, and the same cycle continues.
Life, my friends, is like this.
At different milestones of our lives, we are always going into new stages, and the cycle is the same. Starts out easy, we get the hang of things, then it gets harder, then we get used to it, then it gets easy again, then....we win..
And we go on to the next stage. The cycle continues...
We're immature, we mature, then we win, we're immature again, we mature again....
We're always re-maturing...as I found out, in different stages of life. During primary school, we start out easy, then it gets harder, and we get used to it, then we take UPSR, we get our A's, we win..
Then enter secondary school..
Easy, getting harder, PMR, upper form, SPM, we win...
And the cycle continues....university, work, all the same..
And it will always continue up to a point when we win the game, that is when life ends, that is when all stages are played.
What if we get stuck in a stage? Well this is a point where life is no longer like the game..Life goes on, continuously, unlike a game, where you can SAVE and LOAD anytime. You got 3,4 lives. If you play SONIC, you can get 100 lives.
In life, you get one life, and one life only. You can't LOAD or SAVE. you go on.
But you can lose the game. People lose in a stage when they don't know how to carry on. They can't get the hang of using the guns, or killing big monsters.
They lose when they don't learn from the previous stages in life. Because old experiences can help in future hard encounters.
They lose when they fail to re-mature..
When they lose, they quit. In life, when we can't re-mature, we quit. We get buried by the progressive change of life. We quit when we don't progress, but life does, and we can't continue the game.
We lose, game over.
What happens next? Cheat codes?
(to be continued...)
However, say for example between the youth and the old, what happens in between?
We go through stages...Different stages of life.
Stages? You mean like a game? Menang satu stage, pergi stage lain?
Well, you can look at it that way. In a game, a new stage starts out easy. Kill small monsters, use simple guns, and as it goes further into a stage, you start to kill big monsters and use laser guns instead of knives. You win a stage, you get into another, harder stage, and the same cycle continues.
Life, my friends, is like this.
At different milestones of our lives, we are always going into new stages, and the cycle is the same. Starts out easy, we get the hang of things, then it gets harder, then we get used to it, then it gets easy again, then....we win..
And we go on to the next stage. The cycle continues...
We're immature, we mature, then we win, we're immature again, we mature again....
We're always re-maturing...as I found out, in different stages of life. During primary school, we start out easy, then it gets harder, and we get used to it, then we take UPSR, we get our A's, we win..
Then enter secondary school..
Easy, getting harder, PMR, upper form, SPM, we win...
And the cycle continues....university, work, all the same..
And it will always continue up to a point when we win the game, that is when life ends, that is when all stages are played.
What if we get stuck in a stage? Well this is a point where life is no longer like the game..Life goes on, continuously, unlike a game, where you can SAVE and LOAD anytime. You got 3,4 lives. If you play SONIC, you can get 100 lives.
In life, you get one life, and one life only. You can't LOAD or SAVE. you go on.
But you can lose the game. People lose in a stage when they don't know how to carry on. They can't get the hang of using the guns, or killing big monsters.
They lose when they don't learn from the previous stages in life. Because old experiences can help in future hard encounters.
They lose when they fail to re-mature..
When they lose, they quit. In life, when we can't re-mature, we quit. We get buried by the progressive change of life. We quit when we don't progress, but life does, and we can't continue the game.
We lose, game over.
What happens next? Cheat codes?
(to be continued...)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Hope
(short one)
When we don't know what to do next, what the situation is, we can only hope.
Hope for the best, and hope everything turns out well.
Don't look too far, stay where we are, and hope for the best.
Don't expect, don't be troubled, stay where we are, hope for the best.
Hope for the reality, and not live in lies.
But not let hope bring it too far, coz the bigger the hope the bigger the frustration.
Hope, and don't lose all hope.
When we don't know what to do next, what the situation is, we can only hope.
Hope for the best, and hope everything turns out well.
Don't look too far, stay where we are, and hope for the best.
Don't expect, don't be troubled, stay where we are, hope for the best.
Hope for the reality, and not live in lies.
But not let hope bring it too far, coz the bigger the hope the bigger the frustration.
Hope, and don't lose all hope.
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Wait...and Patience
Patience is a virtue, and very importantly so that it is always a determinant in the outcome of everyday life.
Patience is a strong characteristic. Not everyone has it, believe me.
People who have it, can wait, take things slow, control their anger, control their emotions, think rationally, and always see the light beyond every darkness..
People who don't, well, tend to do the exact opposites.
In scope of The Wait, patience is a strong and powerful ally to have.
Not many people can be patient while waiting for whatever it is they are waiting for. Patience increases the resilience and persistence in waiting for something. People who are patient, are extremely good at waiting. They don't give up easily, they just keep going and going.
People who are patient don't always rush into things, unless they need to. They wait, however slow things are.
And of course, there goes the old saying, that good things come to those who wait. I guess the gist of this saying is that we have to be patient in life, all the time, until there comes a time when our nerve finally breaks.
I really hope I can uphold the patience of some great people I've met and known. This post is a reminder to myself, as usual.
Until my nerve breaks, I'll be strong as a rock.
Patience is a strong characteristic. Not everyone has it, believe me.
People who have it, can wait, take things slow, control their anger, control their emotions, think rationally, and always see the light beyond every darkness..
People who don't, well, tend to do the exact opposites.
In scope of The Wait, patience is a strong and powerful ally to have.
Not many people can be patient while waiting for whatever it is they are waiting for. Patience increases the resilience and persistence in waiting for something. People who are patient, are extremely good at waiting. They don't give up easily, they just keep going and going.
People who are patient don't always rush into things, unless they need to. They wait, however slow things are.
And of course, there goes the old saying, that good things come to those who wait. I guess the gist of this saying is that we have to be patient in life, all the time, until there comes a time when our nerve finally breaks.
I really hope I can uphold the patience of some great people I've met and known. This post is a reminder to myself, as usual.
Until my nerve breaks, I'll be strong as a rock.
Personality : The Secretive
The Secretive person, is always, well, secretive. In essence, they love to keep secrets because they know that not all information is of importance to all.
The ideal secretive will tend to respect other people's privacy (most of the time) because they want other people to respect their privacy and secrets as well.
A good thing about the secretive is that they are really good at keeping secrets. Not only their own, but other people's as well. They are most of the time conscious of what they say, and it will be hard to dig any dirt out of them.
Always associated with The Trusty, although there are of course, some exceptional cases.
The secretive are well accepted by other people in general, because they tend to be easy to talk to, tend to be easygoing and tend to be good listeners.
A bad trait of a secretive, is that they can be, a bit too secretive. More often than not, they would want to keep everything about their private life as private as they could. And as a result, not many people really know them that well.
But it does not mean all secretives consistantly keep their mouth shut. Some secretives tell when they should. Some do so when they could, or when they need to do so badly. Some will do so when they need other bits of information. Some tell when the timing is good, and some tell at a bad timing. Some secretives, know a lot of versions to a same story.
All in all, a secretive can be a good person to talk to, because most of the time they are trustworthy and easygoing. But bear in mind. If you meet a secretive, chances are, youre not the only one confiding. In their repertoire, there might be hundreds of other secrets undisclosed. And if there are two or more consistant secrets kept, the secretive will have a lot of 'tools' at its disposal.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Random #4 : The hard truths
Today I learnt a hard truth..I'll try to say what I remember...
(will update is necessary)
- This world is not ideal, and it will never be. I will try to expand on this later on. The ideal situation is that everyone is good, and people are righteous, and laws are fair, and money is good. Bullshit. The world is never ideal, and it will never be. It is only ideal to some extent, which is in terms of religion, in which the word of God is the most truthful of all.
- Humans are smart, and ingeniously clever. And in this cleverness, comes a lot of good and bad arts.
- Like for example, the Art of Deception. I think in the action of benefiting oneself, this art has been born and perfected over the years, in ways unimaginable. It will continue to thrive, until all thread of truth is covered under all the lies and deceit.
- Humans live, and will continue to keep living, based on charisma and power. Preferential treatment are given to those of high power, because, well, they have power. People will only listen to charismatic figures, and will continue to ignore, those deemed to be low in such aspect.
- No matter how harmonious, there will always be some kind of contempt.
- ..and with contempt, comes the reputations and perspectives with it.
- Life is not ideal. It is real. And in reality, it is cruel. We can't solve this problem. We only deal with it.
- ..and in dealing with it, we have to lie and be cruel as well. Survival depends on it. (Shit kann?)
- And trusting people becomes hard, because everyone is lying. Its all part of the game.
- The intention of people working is based on their personal gains. Even if character is compromised.
- People will hate living, because life is so fake, and death seems the easy way out.
- To love and trust is hard, because there are always conditions, and strings attached.
- In fact, there will be a time where there is a string attached to everything. Every motive is underlying. Every real intention is concealed. On the surface of every deed is good. In reality, it all has an underlying motive.
- Power will be an increasingly used, both as motive and tool. War for power. And power for more wars.
- ..and to gain power, is to master the art of speech and the art of making money.
- The love for money, had always been rife, and will always be, and to some extent that it could be a passion worth dying for.
(will update is necessary)
Now what??
hmm....There will always come a time when you ask yourself..."Now what??"
When you had done all you could, and all you should. Then another thing arises..
Now what??
Problems go and new problems come....Now what?
Don't know what to do next...this is the case...
Ouh man...crunch time...
Really, now what??
When you had done all you could, and all you should. Then another thing arises..
Now what??
Problems go and new problems come....Now what?
Don't know what to do next...this is the case...
Ouh man...crunch time...
Really, now what??
Monday, February 2, 2009
There must always be a balance..
There should always be a balance shouldn't it?
I mean, think about it. What good is a life without death. What good is a black without white. What good is a world without akhirat.
There must always be a balance...
...and the lack of it can prove devastating too....
Imagine people who are too rich but lack in character. Kaya tapi sombong. angkuh. Tak bagus kann..
Also, imagine people who work always. Extremely hardworking. Tapi tak solat. Tak bagus la kan?
Also, people who love life. Too much, until they just can't bear the prospect that they will die someday. Love life, forget death. No balance juga kan...
And people who are too obsessed with their girlfriends/ boyfriends....sampai takde time untuk kawan2. Tak bagus juga kan..(Pernah tgk dengan mata sendiri)
Or people who are terlalu berkawan...sampai takde time untuk girlfriend or boyfriend..(ok dh melalut dah haha)
Point is, there must be balance...and moderation...in everthing.
hmmm...There must be a balance...
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Wait..and The Fear
Straight to the point. We are all people with wants. We all have our own desires. And sometimes to get what we want, we wait for it. We wait. And wait. And wait some more.
But what if what we wait for has long left us? Have we waited for nothing? So we always have The Fear haunting us when we wait. With Every wait, comes The Fear.
And it feels terrible doesn't it?
The wait could be long. Extremely long. And when the 'waiting periods' start to grow, so does the hope and expectations, and therefore The Fear grows too. The longer we wait, the least we know what to expect, because people are always changing. Situations are always changing. Life is not mechanical, and it is always, always changing, and sometimes at an alarming pace.
Or on the contrary...
The wait could be short. And sweet. But it could also be too brief. Too short for us to expect anything at all. The adrenaline did not have time to escalate. The excitement did not have time to kick in. The Fear did not have time to haunt us. Therefore there is not much excitement in things right?
And there is an old saying which goes along the lines of : When there is less risk, there is less return...(okay not really an old saying. Just a principle of stock marketing).
So is it that mechanical?
When The Wait is long, The Fear is strong, and the benefits and appreciation is greater?
When The Wait is short, The fear is weak, and the benefits and appreciation is smaller?
Tak la sangat sebenarnya...=D
Again, life is not mechanical, and things don't all the time happen this way. But most of the time, that seems to be the order of events. Most of the time anyway..
Don't believe me?
Try waiting for something. Something that you really want. Something that you really hope for. You will understand, what I really mean....
But what if what we wait for has long left us? Have we waited for nothing? So we always have The Fear haunting us when we wait. With Every wait, comes The Fear.
And it feels terrible doesn't it?
The wait could be long. Extremely long. And when the 'waiting periods' start to grow, so does the hope and expectations, and therefore The Fear grows too. The longer we wait, the least we know what to expect, because people are always changing. Situations are always changing. Life is not mechanical, and it is always, always changing, and sometimes at an alarming pace.
Or on the contrary...
The wait could be short. And sweet. But it could also be too brief. Too short for us to expect anything at all. The adrenaline did not have time to escalate. The excitement did not have time to kick in. The Fear did not have time to haunt us. Therefore there is not much excitement in things right?
And there is an old saying which goes along the lines of : When there is less risk, there is less return...(okay not really an old saying. Just a principle of stock marketing).
So is it that mechanical?
When The Wait is long, The Fear is strong, and the benefits and appreciation is greater?
When The Wait is short, The fear is weak, and the benefits and appreciation is smaller?
Tak la sangat sebenarnya...=D
Again, life is not mechanical, and things don't all the time happen this way. But most of the time, that seems to be the order of events. Most of the time anyway..
Don't believe me?
Try waiting for something. Something that you really want. Something that you really hope for. You will understand, what I really mean....
A Time of Reflection
(Pretty long composition. Good idea for a cup of coffee)
In these past few days, have you ever sat alone and thought, really thought to yourself about, well, just about anything. About your parents, about uni, about old friends, about new friends, about religion, Gaza, America, etc2.
Have you?
Reflections. Reflections upon yourself, your life, and your coming death. It's true, I'm pretty sentimental, living in the past and all. But in a way I think this mode of reflection that I sometimes have is important, in that we always reflect back on what we done, and in a way giving ourselves a post mortem of things.
Now I admit, I am not at all perfect, in fact far from it. But this kind of reflection helps in that I become my own worst critique of things. The fact that I am not perfect gives the perfect reason to reflect upon things that I had done, or should have done. True, regret is sometimes painful, but inevitable. And to minimise regret the next time it comes along, sometimes we just have to have these reflections upon us, talk to ourselves if we need to.
As a matter of opinion, I think that experience is the best teacher, though it can be cruel and cold. But experience without the ability to think about it, is useless right? Imagine going through the same kind of lesson, but never really reflecting upon it properly. Bloody useless aye?
In fact, I think the greatest thinkers and for that matter, people in general, are people who have the ability to reflect upon themselves and think. Only in that way, will people progress, because the realisation to change comes from within.
Kalau keras kepala, and tak penah pikir pasal experience sendiri, tak progress juga kan..
Like for example. Have you ever been in a presence of someone who doesn't pray? Seriously, they really don't, and they don't seem to care. They come to your house since Zuhur and they don't pray, and on it goes till Asar, and still they don't pray. You pray but they don't care. They keep on watching TV, or play the comp, or whatever.
(Breather =D)
Now I admit, I am not perfect in terms of praying either. Of course la, kadang2 tu kita kantoi Subuh. Nama pon jantan. Bangun lambat dah pasti la kan. Kadang2 solat lain pon ada terkantoi. Tidur sana, busy sini.
But. I repeat, BUT, there is a hell of a lot difference between not praying and not caring whether we pray or not, and I am thankful that I have a sense of guilt when I don't pray.
I have seen quite a number of people, some really close to me, that don't pray, and by the looks of it, do not really care whether they do or not. Not caring is another matter. What if they don't even know that they have to pray? That is another thing altogether.
I think people who refuse to talk to their parents also need some reflection upon their lives. I mean, c'mon. Who really wants to grow up taking a vow of silence with their own parents, their own flesh and blood.
Their parents might had done something to them, but how long would they deny that in truth, seeing their parents once again is the only thing that they actually want most?
(Another Breather )
Always, after certain events, I seem to get in a trance of reflecting upon things happening around. Like tahlils for example. I always find that, after going to a tahlil, whether for someone close to me or not, I always seem to find my own quiet spot, and think to myself things. About friends, parents, life, death, and stuff like that.
And it is cool because I am alert about the way things are, and like I said, post-morteming (wtf?) life at that point.
Sometimes, I always reflect after rare occasions of reading the Kitab, or rarer still, when I'm alone at the Mosque. I used to sit for long minutes at the Surau when I was in school. Not because I am warak, but because that is the kind of place that hepls me think.
I can say that reflection is like meditation, and always keeping track of where life is standing. That is why I dare say that the best thinkers are people who always reflect. They are not outdated, they are progressive, and they are always thinking.
So I guess the end result of all this is that reflecting upon our lives is good, and if we are doing it as often as we need to, then it's okay. I think people who seldom do it should try it.
Put on some good music. Go to the mosque. Go and pray some Hajat Prayer. Read the Kitab. Whatever. It's a good way to keep track of where we are now. Trust me. It's a good feeling.
It might be sentimental, and always living in the past is not good. But, we can't deny the importance of living in the past if we need a better future. God gave us 'akal' for a lot of reasons, and one of em is to learn from the past.
That, I guess, is the best use of reflection...
In these past few days, have you ever sat alone and thought, really thought to yourself about, well, just about anything. About your parents, about uni, about old friends, about new friends, about religion, Gaza, America, etc2.
Have you?
Reflections. Reflections upon yourself, your life, and your coming death. It's true, I'm pretty sentimental, living in the past and all. But in a way I think this mode of reflection that I sometimes have is important, in that we always reflect back on what we done, and in a way giving ourselves a post mortem of things.
Now I admit, I am not at all perfect, in fact far from it. But this kind of reflection helps in that I become my own worst critique of things. The fact that I am not perfect gives the perfect reason to reflect upon things that I had done, or should have done. True, regret is sometimes painful, but inevitable. And to minimise regret the next time it comes along, sometimes we just have to have these reflections upon us, talk to ourselves if we need to.
As a matter of opinion, I think that experience is the best teacher, though it can be cruel and cold. But experience without the ability to think about it, is useless right? Imagine going through the same kind of lesson, but never really reflecting upon it properly. Bloody useless aye?
In fact, I think the greatest thinkers and for that matter, people in general, are people who have the ability to reflect upon themselves and think. Only in that way, will people progress, because the realisation to change comes from within.
Kalau keras kepala, and tak penah pikir pasal experience sendiri, tak progress juga kan..
Like for example. Have you ever been in a presence of someone who doesn't pray? Seriously, they really don't, and they don't seem to care. They come to your house since Zuhur and they don't pray, and on it goes till Asar, and still they don't pray. You pray but they don't care. They keep on watching TV, or play the comp, or whatever.
(Breather =D)
Now I admit, I am not perfect in terms of praying either. Of course la, kadang2 tu kita kantoi Subuh. Nama pon jantan. Bangun lambat dah pasti la kan. Kadang2 solat lain pon ada terkantoi. Tidur sana, busy sini.
But. I repeat, BUT, there is a hell of a lot difference between not praying and not caring whether we pray or not, and I am thankful that I have a sense of guilt when I don't pray.
I have seen quite a number of people, some really close to me, that don't pray, and by the looks of it, do not really care whether they do or not. Not caring is another matter. What if they don't even know that they have to pray? That is another thing altogether.
I think people who refuse to talk to their parents also need some reflection upon their lives. I mean, c'mon. Who really wants to grow up taking a vow of silence with their own parents, their own flesh and blood.
Their parents might had done something to them, but how long would they deny that in truth, seeing their parents once again is the only thing that they actually want most?
(Another Breather )
Always, after certain events, I seem to get in a trance of reflecting upon things happening around. Like tahlils for example. I always find that, after going to a tahlil, whether for someone close to me or not, I always seem to find my own quiet spot, and think to myself things. About friends, parents, life, death, and stuff like that.
And it is cool because I am alert about the way things are, and like I said, post-morteming (wtf?) life at that point.
Sometimes, I always reflect after rare occasions of reading the Kitab, or rarer still, when I'm alone at the Mosque. I used to sit for long minutes at the Surau when I was in school. Not because I am warak, but because that is the kind of place that hepls me think.
I can say that reflection is like meditation, and always keeping track of where life is standing. That is why I dare say that the best thinkers are people who always reflect. They are not outdated, they are progressive, and they are always thinking.
So I guess the end result of all this is that reflecting upon our lives is good, and if we are doing it as often as we need to, then it's okay. I think people who seldom do it should try it.
Put on some good music. Go to the mosque. Go and pray some Hajat Prayer. Read the Kitab. Whatever. It's a good way to keep track of where we are now. Trust me. It's a good feeling.
It might be sentimental, and always living in the past is not good. But, we can't deny the importance of living in the past if we need a better future. God gave us 'akal' for a lot of reasons, and one of em is to learn from the past.
That, I guess, is the best use of reflection...
(Damn...That was long....)
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